A root is the basic element of a word, and it is the foundation on which the meaning of a word is built. Many roots are real words in their own right: graph (a diagram) and term (a fixed time or date), for example. Although these roots can have other elements, they don't need other elements to be complete. Most roots, however, do need other elements. For example, the roots archy (government) and dox (opinion or belief) need to be combined with other word elements, like prefixes, suffixes, o…